Shenendehowa moves past Section III Auburn with 3-1 victory

TROY >> The ball exploded off John Rizzo’s bat headed towards right field in a hurry.

If it landed in the Joe Bruno stadium outfield, it would have taken a great throw to stop the game-tying run from scoring from second base.

Matt Bloise made sure it didn’t come to that.

The left fielder caught the hard-hit ball despite having to reach across his body to clinch a 3-1 win for Shenendehowa over Auburn in the NYSPHSAA Class AA quarterfinals Saturday.

Advertisement

The win advances the Plainsmen baseball program in search of its first state title to next Saturday’s final four at Maine-Endwel High School. No. 1 state-ranked Shenendehowa will play No. 2 Ketcham in one semifinal at 1 p.m. with the winner advancing to a 4 p.m. final later in the day.

“I can’t remember a last time a Shen team went this far,” Shen starting pitcher Bryan Warzek said. “For me, personally, We were here last year in this situation and we weren’t successful. It feels great just to come back and prove ‘em wrong.”

Warzek had allowed just three hits in the first six innings of the game when he took the mound to start the seventh inning. After getting the first two outs of the inning on fly balls, the left walked Erik Baim and allowed an infield single to Trent Valentino to load the bases.

With leadoff hitter Pat LaDouce set to face Warzek for a fourth time, Shenendehowa coach Greg Christodulu decided to insert sophomore Ian Anderson to close the game.

“When you have a resource like Ian Anderson, being able to bring him out of the bullpen and hit the gun at 84 to 86 (miles-per-hour), we’d kick ourselves if we don’t utilize him in that situation,” the second-year coach said. “We needed ... a fresh arm, a different angle, different velocity.”

Anderson quickly got two strikes on LaDouce before giving up a shallow single that loaded the bases to put the tying run at second and go-ahead run at first. The next batter, Rizzo, made solid contact with the ball, but Bloise covered enough ground to make the game-ending catch.

All of the Plainsmen’s runs originated from John Novenche and Connor Douglas. Novenche reached base on an infield single to lead off the bottom of the second inning and came around to score on an Auburn error on a possible double-play ball that would have ended the inning. Douglas, who follows Novenche in the lineup at the No. 7 spot in the lineup, drew a walk advanced on Bloise’s single and the error then made it 2-0 Shen after Brennan McCormack hit an RBI groundout.

“Those are the settings we prepare for and he took full advantage of that situation,” Christodulu said of Douglas. “Tonight those guys were part of a couple runs for us. You tip your hat to them.”

One inning later the duo were at it again. Novenche worked a full count then drew a walk before Douglas hit an RBI double to left center to put the Plainsmen up 3-0.

“I saw that the pitch before the pitcher was very upset with the call that gave John Novenche first base,” Douglas said. “I figured he was going to try and blow one by me or something. I just put my foot down and went for it.”

Auburn pulled a run back in the top of the fourth on two singles and a sacrifice fly but did not score again. The Maroons finished the regular season 9-9 but pulled three upsets in the Section III tournament just to reach the state level.

“We didn’t expect it but once we got past Baldwinsville we got a lot of confidence there and we carried throughout the next two games in our section,” Auburn coach John Turcsik said.

“We had a lot of confidence coming into this game against the No. 1 team in the state. They’re definitely No. 1 for a reason.”

Warzek got the win after allowing one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings of work with six strikeouts and two walks. Anderson picked up the one-out save.

“He gutted out his performance tonight,” said Christodulu of junior left-hander. “Our defense unfortunately wasn’t as sharp as it could have been, which put him in some tough spots.”

Justin Valentino pitched well in defeat for Auburn. The right-hander allowed just one earned run on five hits with three strikeouts and three walks.

“Valentino’s a good pitcher,” Christodulu said. “He’d be very competitive in (the Suburban Council).

The Plainsmen now less than a week — and two wins — away from the first state title in program history.